Heath Ledger Wanted to Reprise Role of the Joker After The Dark Knight

Share This:

Heath Ledger Wanted to Reprise Role of the Joker After The Dark Knight

Share

There is no denying that the role of Heath Ledger as the Joker in The Dark Knight was a performance of a lifetime. The late actor spent countless hours in perfecting his portrayal of the paint-smeared supervillain, an effort that ultimately went down as one of the greatest antagonists in the history of cinema.

Batman decided to let the Joker live in the events of The Dark Knight, leaving the possibility for his return in a sequel or related future installment. However, Heath Ledger tragically passed a few months after the movie opened up in theaters.

Speaking with News.com.au in a recent interview, his sister Kate shared that her brother was extremely proud of his work in the movie. He actually had plans to reprise his role of the Joker in another movie adaptation for Batman.

I spoke to him the night before (he died) and we were laughing and joking. He was so proud of what he had done in Batman. And I know he had plans for another Batman. He loved working with Chris Nolan and Christian Bale and Gary Oldman. He just had the best time ever doing that film… When he came home at Christmas he couldn’t wait to tell us all about it and he was doing the voice and laughing, showing me all the rushes. We had a great time.

While director Christopher Nolan has never officially acknowledged that the Joker was on the cards to return in the trilogy, it is with certainty now that Heath Ledger was completely open to the idea. If the Joker was indeed planned for the scripts in the sequels, Nolan would have been forced to remove him because any other actor would have had a hard time filling the shoes left behind for the role.

Jared Leto took on a very different kind of portrayal for the Joker in Suicide Squad, which left the audience pretty split on the matter.